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Maritime non-fiction / Biography

Mercantile life in Victorian times

William Schaw Lindsay, by Bill Lindsay

book_cover_William_Schaw_Lindsay.jpgHere we have a biography produced with great heart by the subject's great-great-grandson William Stewart Lindsay – who believes, understandably, that his 19th century ancestor William Schaw Lindsay (1815-1877) should be better known in merchant shipping circles.

Drawing on extensive private journals now housed in the UK National Maritime Museum, the story takes us through Schaw Lindsay's nine years at sea, his creation of a successful company with a fleet of 22 ships, and his time as a politician and author.

Meetings with Queen Victoria, Napoleon III and Abraham Lincoln are charted, and there are candid pen-portraits of various UK prime ministers.

The hardback contains a family tree and lots of useful appendices – including a list of ships Schaw Lindsay owned and a thorough bibliography.

William Schaw Lindsay: Victorian Entrepreneur
By Bill Lindsay
Amberley Publishing, £25.00
ISBN: 978 13981 15255

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